Meet WEF’s Young Global Leaders of 2016 – 9 Africans driving 4IR

World Economic Forum media release

Geneva, Switzerland, 16 March 2016 – The World Economic Forum announced 122 scientists, government leaders, future business leaders, social activists and artists, aged under 40, who are shaking up policy, society and the world around them.

Over half of the Young Global Leaders Class of 2016 are women and the majority are from emerging economies. Taken together, they represent the very best of this generation and, as public services worldwide face funding shortfalls, they emphasize the need for future leaders to be tech-savvy, civic-minded innovators.

The full list can be downloaded here.

Of the 122, the majority have already agreed to join the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGLs), a diverse community whose members work together on initiatives that benefit society. YGL efforts to date have led to initiatives and businesses aimed at tackling global water shortages, the working conditions of factories in poor countries, a waste-free world, poor health and education for schoolchildren and spinal injuries. A list of notable initiatives involving YGLs is available here.

Current and former YGLs head governments and Fortune 500 companies, win Nobel Prizes and Academy Awards, become UN Goodwill Ambassadors and Social Entrepreneurs. The new YGLs will be asked to work with one another over the next five years resolving some of the world’s toughest challenges.

“Technology is reshaping the way global economies work and how jobs are created. For young leaders, this encompasses the most promising innovations of our day but also the challenges of huge disruptions to labour markets, socio-economic and demographic changes, resource scarcity, global conflicts and slowing productivity. We want these young leaders to be part of the solution and to provide a community that helps them to break down silos, work across sectors, bridge cultures and have the skills get things done in private, public and civil society organizations,” said John Dutton, Director and Head of the Young Global Leaders Community at the World Economic Forum.

The nine Africans making up the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Class of 2016:

	Abayomi Awobokun	Chief Executive Officer, Oando Downstream	Oando Plc	Nigeria	CEO of Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil retailing major, who climbed the ranks having been, just a over 10 years ago, he was a cleaner in the UK.
	Ada Osakwe	Senior Investment Advisor	Federal Ministry of Agriculture	Nigeria	Using her experience from years of private equity, banking and finance, she leads private sector agribusiness investments for the Ministry of Agriculture in Nigeria.
	Christopher Ategeka	Founder and CEO	Rides for Lives	Uganda	An entrepreneur whose non-profit builds mobile health units equipped with a doctor, lab and pharmacy. To date, it has served over 500,000 people. An entrepreneur since childhood, he lost both parents to HIV/AIDS when he was seven and supported his family by starting a neighbourhood waste-collection service.
	Farida Bedwei	Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer	Logiciel Ltd	Nigeria	A top software engineers in Ghana and one of the most powerful women in financial technology in Africa.  Born with cerebral palsy, she co-founded Logiciel, a tech company that delivers mobile banking and cash management software.
	James Mworia	Chief Executive Officer	Centum Investment Company Limited	Kenya	Rose from being in intern to being the youngest CEO of a listed company in East Africa and regarded as one of the youngest powerful men in Africa.
	Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq	Chief Executive Officer, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria; Technic(…)	Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria	Nigeria	He is a health expert, CEO and Board Member of the foremost private sector platform for delivering social impact in the health sector in Nigeria.
	Zukie Siyotula	Chief Executive Officer	Thebe Capital	South Africa	She is an exceptionally successful South African woman, currently the CEO of a pioneering local venture that is one of South Africa’s leading companies in the investment industry.
	Mary Vilakazi	Group Chief Financial Officer	MMI Holdings Limited	South Africa	A CFO and non-executive director in the investor and banking industry, involved with various educational, entrepreneurial and community development forums and trusts.
	Juliana Rotich	Co-Founder and Executive Director	Ushahidi Inc.	Kenya	One of the leading voices of technology in Africa and a trailblazer for the technology renaissance on the continent. Her innovative organization makes essential crisis information available to citizens all across the world.